Authors: Melissa Abbate, Alex Carlson, Junie Coelho, Jacob Ricci
Introduction
Central Falls is a small, but central part to the state of Rhode Island. Out of 247,822 people sampled, 5,531 came from Central Falls, making up a solid two percent of the population. It is surrounded by a few parks and is located near Valley Falls Pond. Startingly enough, almost half the children living in Central Falls only have one parental figure, as compared to Rhode Island's total of only thirty percent. Interestingly enough, however, the number of children living in single-parent households is actually lower than Rhose Island; 2,300 compared to Rhode Island's 67,000. Two-Parent households, unfortunately, are also a low 2,600 to Rhode Island's 160,000. Central Falls also has a saddening amount of impoverished children which tips forty-one percent, and it makes up most of Rhode Island's total, which accounts for seventeen percent of the population. Although Central Falls has many hardworking teenagers, seventeen percent drop out and don't work at all. This could be the reason public school enrollment is drastically lower in Central Falls; only 3,000 kids are enrolled in public school as compared to Rhode Island's 140,000. The chances of staying in school drop as the years go on, because only 205 kids were registered for twelfth grade enrollment out of Rhode Island's total 10,000.
Economic Standing
Central Falls is a densely populated city, which has one of the lowest economic standings in Rhode Island. From the data provided by the Census Bureau, it is apparent that the city is substantially below the economic standing of not only Rhode Island, but the United States as a whole. Nationwide, the median household income is approximately $51,000, with a median family income of $62,000. In Rhode Island, these same figures average $55,000 and $62,000. For Central Falls, these figures are substantially lower at approximately $33,500 median household income and 38,000 median family income. The figures demonstrate the drastic difference in the economic standing of Central Falls from both Rhode Island and the United States. The difference of $20-30,000 is huge. Central Falls being densely populated means that this is not just a small town with small school needs that could potentially suffice on a significantly lower income, but rather is a city in a dire situation. The large population and low income means that the school system is dealing with a large volume of students with a small budget. In Central Falls, there is over a quarter of the populace that is below the poverty level. The families of students do not have money to put towards education in the manner of parents and families in other communities around the state and the country. This is compounded by a high unemployment rate, nearly 7.5%. Overall, the economic standing of Central Falls is such that the education of students in the Central Falls school system is invariably affected in a negative way.
The funding for Central Falls is pathetically low, which can contribute to the lack of motivation in the school district. As compared to East Greenwich, the property value per student for Central Falls is almost a tenth of the value of a East Greenwich student. The property value per student is around $200,000, while at East Greenwich it tops a million dollars. The median family income is also low compared to this rich area; Central Falls averages $27,000 while East Greenwich averages $90,000. As Kozol suggests, perhaps the more impoverished areas have a worse education than those that are privileged and rich.
Role of Grandparents in the Lives of Students
Luckily, though, the fact that there are less households with grandparents financially responsible for children is positive for Central Falls. Even if grandparents tend to be less likely to be financially responsible, Central Falls tends to be less financially successful than the total of Rhode Island. Although the participants in the food stamp program are lower than Rhode Island's total by 56,000, a little less than double the amount of chlildren participate in the school breakfast program. Because Rhode Island has a much larger population than Central Falls, Central Falls is a considerably impoverished area. However, the amount of poverty cannot be attributed to rent costs, as the cost of rent is only $933 when Rhode Island has an average of $1,165. Perhaps because of the lack of money and perhaps proper education, six percent of infants are born at highest risk. Because children under eighteen that live under extreme poverty make up almost six percent of Rhode Island's total, and twenty-nine percent of children living under eighteen in poverty are from Central Falls, children in families receiving financial assistance amount to eight percent. The amount of poverty could be attributed to lack of education, as an astonishing thirty-six percent of mothers don't have a high school diploma.
Cultural Diversity
According to the demographic estimates conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, Central Falls is an immensely ethnically-diverse area. This city has large quantities of different nationalities, meaning that there is no remarkable majority of any race. The percentages of minority groups in Central Falls are generally higher than those of the state of Rhode Island. Although there is a great deal of diversity, Central Falls' highest percentage of the races is White (67.3%), closely followed by the Hispanic population (60.2%). The percentage of Whites is a bit lower than the percentages in Rhode Island and the U.S. Also, the percentage of Hispanics and Latinos is significantly greater than the state's (11.4%) and the country's (15.1%). Overall, the major races in this area are: White, Hispanic, and Black. Almost half of the population is foreign-born, which may indicate an immigrant population living in this area. There are very small percentages of Asians, American Indians, and Native Hawaiians in this region. There is however, a noteworthy 17.6% of the inhabitants who fall under the category of "some other race."
Student Education
These community aspects are reflective in the language and financial information collected in the CF school systems. The percentage of students who qualify for subsidized or reduced lunch in this region is extremely high at 81% of all students. This percentage is drastically higher than the state's which falls at 43%. The cultural diversity of the area accumulates many foreign-speaking peoples, many of whom require Bilingual or English as a Second Language education services. 11% of all Central Falls students require these services, this is moderately higher than the state's by 6%. Misunderstandings may occur from language barriers in schools which could account for the percentage of students who need Special Education. 20% of the students in Central Falls need Special Ed, again only a bit higher than the state's 16%.
Education indicators are low. Even if early intervention participation is a percent higher at Rhode Island with an eleven percent, and children in full-day kindergarten comprise of every child in Central Falls, the amount of education children receive is saddening. It could be attributed to the fact that many children are not fluent in English, as twenty-three percent are currently learning the language. This may also attribute to the low levels or reading proficiency, which never top sixty percent, while in Rhode Island, it is above sixty-nine percent. Math scores are also ranked low in Central Falls; although a little over half of 4th graders are competent in math, only twenty-eight percent of the total amount of 8th graders are proficient in math. In comparison to Rhode Island's total fifty-four percent, this is clearly something that needs to be fixed. However, it could be because a quarter of all students are enrolled in special education and are perhaps not getting the education they need. Although eighty-eight percent of kids attend high school, more than thirty percent of those do not end up graduating.
NECAP (the Rhode Island state test) scores for the district are pitifully low across the board. In almost every grade, less than half of the students test proficient in math, reading, writing, and science. Only in fourth grade math, fourth grade reading, fifth grade reading, and eighth grade reading do more than half of students test proficient, and those figures are just barely above 50%. The trend reaches extreme lows of 04% in eighth grade and eleventh grade science, also dipping to 08% in eighth grade science. The highest percentage of proficiency is in fourth grade reading, which is at 58% proficient. Low scores are not a new change in Central Falls. Scores for the 2010-2011 school year were actually up from previous years. Blame for these low scores cannot be place on teachers, nor on the school, but rather on the system.
Motivation in Central Falls to academically succeed seems to decline as years go on. The attendance rates for Central Falls are on a negative curve. Schools in Central Falls had a ninety-four percent attendance rate in elementary and middle schools, which exceeds the state target. However, attendance decreased as the statistic reached high schools; as the attendance rate was only at eighty-eight percent. Only half of the high school students in Central Falls managed to graduate, which is twenty percent lower than the state's total. Thirty percent of students decide that school isn't even worth it, and they drop out. Double the amount of students drop out in Central Falls as compared to the state's total. 3.4 percent of students received their GED, which is right on par to the state's total. Violence in Central Falls also seems to be quite common and may be discouraging kids from returning to school; 783 of Rhode Island's total 24,491 high school incidents were from Central Falls.
Central Falls' Teachers
The Central Falls district as compared to the state of Rhode Island in teaching standards appears to be nearly on equal footing according to statistics collected in 2010-2011. Teachers with Emergency Certification are uncertified individuals who can be granted permission to teach in public schools when qualified candidates are unavailable. Central Falls and Rhode Island schools only employ a limited amount of these teachers; Central Falls having a mere 2% of the teaching staff with emergency certifications, only slightly larger than the state percentage of 1%. The amount of not high qualified teachers is also low. Rhode Island only employs 3% of teachers who fall under this category while Central Highs is again marginally higher at 6%. Not high qualified teachers are defined as those who do not meet the criteria determined by the state to be "highly qualified." This criteria includes: having a Bachelor's Degree, state certification, displaying competency in core academic subjects by having a major or passing a knowledge exam. The ratio of students to teachers is self-explainatory; state statistics indicate that there is an average of one teacher for every 11 students in the schools of Rhode Island. Central Falls is surprisingly slightly lower than the state average, estimating about 10 students per teacher in the school systems. This data collected in Central Falls may be indicative of the reform measures the state has enforced in the schools in the past couple years.
Safety
Safety is also an issue in Central Falls. Unfortunately, out of every thousand children, twenty-three are either abused or neglected. It comes as no surprise that the domestic violence rate concerning children is at thirty-eight percent. Due to the influence of incarcerated parents (twenty kids out of every thousand have imprisoned parents) students who bring weapons and experience violence at school are high; though lower in comparison to the total of Rhode Island. Those who bring weapons to school make up eight percent of Central Falls' total, while in Rhode Island, thirteen percent of children bring weapons to school. The kids that perpetuate violence only amount to five percent of Central Falls' children, even if only thirteen kids get a juvenile arrest for assault; while the number of weapon related assault is almost half that. Of 2,600 kids, only three were detained, and twenty-three were adjudicated. Children may not only get this idea from their parents, but from being present in domestic violence -- of 143, fifty-four were present.
Health Concerns
Healthiness in this area is also low compared to the total of Rhode Island. For example, children with high levels of lead in their blood amount to three percent of total children, while the state has a full percent lower. Kids are also more prone to asthma, as seven children out of every thousand are hospitalized for asthma, which is very high compared to the average of four. Perhaps because of this, the need to have children under nineteen receiving medical assistance is increased; as around 4,400 kids get medical assistance. Children are not the only ones that have to worry for their health. Infants, should they live, (as every eleven infants out of a thousand are pronounced dead) have a low birthweight -- over seven percent of infants have a low birthweight. Although it is low compared to Rhode Island's eight percent, it is also a curious statistic because women who received delayed prenatal care amount to almost twenty percent. Receiving late prenatal care could amount to the reason why there is such a high mortality rate, low birthweight percentage, and a low amount of mothers who exclusively breastfeed -- only forty-three percent of Central Falls' mothers do this. It seems high, but against Rhode Island's average of almost sixty percent, it seems drastically low. Perhaps the reason why mothers do not breastfeed is because a large amount of them are teen mothers -- almost a hundred out of every thousand girls give birth! 230 of these births turn out to be preterm as well.
Conclusion
Central Falls as a whole is in a weak state, and the education system is at the heart of it all. Many factors affect the success of the system, including, but not limited to, economics, social expectations, overall healthiness, and safety. While many districts struggle with one or two of these factors, Central Falls struggles to deal with negatives in all of these areas. With so many things actively working against the school system, it is a wonder that it has done as well as it has. For the past few years, test scores have been rising, showing that improvements are being made. While the process is slow and agonizing, there is still hope for Central Falls and the many people who call this area home.
Community: Central Falls
Zip Code: 02863
Authors: Melissa Abbate, Alex Carlson, Junie Coelho, Jacob Ricci
Introduction
Central Falls is a small, but central part to the state of Rhode Island. Out of 247,822 people sampled, 5,531 came from Central Falls, making up a solid two percent of the population. It is surrounded by a few parks and is located near Valley Falls Pond. Startingly enough, almost half the children living in Central Falls only have one parental figure, as compared to Rhode Island's total of only thirty percent. Interestingly enough, however, the number of children living in single-parent households is actually lower than Rhose Island; 2,300 compared to Rhode Island's 67,000. Two-Parent households, unfortunately, are also a low 2,600 to Rhode Island's 160,000. Central Falls also has a saddening amount of impoverished children which tips forty-one percent, and it makes up most of Rhode Island's total, which accounts for seventeen percent of the population. Although Central Falls has many hardworking teenagers, seventeen percent drop out and don't work at all. This could be the reason public school enrollment is drastically lower in Central Falls; only 3,000 kids are enrolled in public school as compared to Rhode Island's 140,000. The chances of staying in school drop as the years go on, because only 205 kids were registered for twelfth grade enrollment out of Rhode Island's total 10,000.Economic Standing
Central Falls is a densely populated city, which has one of the lowest economic standings in Rhode Island. From the data provided by the Census Bureau, it is apparent that the city is substantially below the economic standing of not only Rhode Island, but the United States as a whole. Nationwide, the median household income is approximately $51,000, with a median family income of $62,000. In Rhode Island, these same figures average $55,000 and $62,000. For Central Falls, these figures are substantially lower at approximately $33,500 median household income and 38,000 median family income. The figures demonstrate the drastic difference in the economic standing of Central Falls from both Rhode Island and the United States. The difference of $20-30,000 is huge. Central Falls being densely populated means that this is not just a small town with small school needs that could potentially suffice on a significantly lower income, but rather is a city in a dire situation. The large population and low income means that the school system is dealing with a large volume of students with a small budget. In Central Falls, there is over a quarter of the populace that is below the poverty level. The families of students do not have money to put towards education in the manner of parents and families in other communities around the state and the country. This is compounded by a high unemployment rate, nearly 7.5%. Overall, the economic standing of Central Falls is such that the education of students in the Central Falls school system is invariably affected in a negative way.The funding for Central Falls is pathetically low, which can contribute to the lack of motivation in the school district. As compared to East Greenwich, the property value per student for Central Falls is almost a tenth of the value of a East Greenwich student. The property value per student is around $200,000, while at East Greenwich it tops a million dollars. The median family income is also low compared to this rich area; Central Falls averages $27,000 while East Greenwich averages $90,000. As Kozol suggests, perhaps the more impoverished areas have a worse education than those that are privileged and rich.
Role of Grandparents in the Lives of Students
Luckily, though, the fact that there are less households with grandparents financially responsible for children is positive for Central Falls. Even if grandparents tend to be less likely to be financially responsible, Central Falls tends to be less financially successful than the total of Rhode Island. Although the participants in the food stamp program are lower than Rhode Island's total by 56,000, a little less than double the amount of chlildren participate in the school breakfast program. Because Rhode Island has a much larger population than Central Falls, Central Falls is a considerably impoverished area. However, the amount of poverty cannot be attributed to rent costs, as the cost of rent is only $933 when Rhode Island has an average of $1,165. Perhaps because of the lack of money and perhaps proper education, six percent of infants are born at highest risk. Because children under eighteen that live under extreme poverty make up almost six percent of Rhode Island's total, and twenty-nine percent of children living under eighteen in poverty are from Central Falls, children in families receiving financial assistance amount to eight percent. The amount of poverty could be attributed to lack of education, as an astonishing thirty-six percent of mothers don't have a high school diploma.Cultural Diversity
According to the demographic estimates conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, Central Falls is an immensely ethnically-diverse area. This city has large quantities of different nationalities, meaning that there is no remarkable majority of any race. The percentages of minority groups in Central Falls are generally higher than those of the state of Rhode Island. Although there is a great deal of diversity, Central Falls' highest percentage of the races is White (67.3%), closely followed by the Hispanic population (60.2%). The percentage of Whites is a bit lower than the percentages in Rhode Island and the U.S. Also, the percentage of Hispanics and Latinos is significantly greater than the state's (11.4%) and the country's (15.1%). Overall, the major races in this area are: White, Hispanic, and Black. Almost half of the population is foreign-born, which may indicate an immigrant population living in this area. There are very small percentages of Asians, American Indians, and Native Hawaiians in this region. There is however, a noteworthy 17.6% of the inhabitants who fall under the category of "some other race."Student Education
These community aspects are reflective in the language and financial information collected in the CF school systems. The percentage of students who qualify for subsidized or reduced lunch in this region is extremely high at 81% of all students. This percentage is drastically higher than the state's which falls at 43%. The cultural diversity of the area accumulates many foreign-speaking peoples, many of whom require Bilingual or English as a Second Language education services. 11% of all Central Falls students require these services, this is moderately higher than the state's by 6%. Misunderstandings may occur from language barriers in schools which could account for the percentage of students who need Special Education. 20% of the students in Central Falls need Special Ed, again only a bit higher than the state's 16%.Education indicators are low. Even if early intervention participation is a percent higher at Rhode Island with an eleven percent, and children in full-day kindergarten comprise of every child in Central Falls, the amount of education children receive is saddening. It could be attributed to the fact that many children are not fluent in English, as twenty-three percent are currently learning the language. This may also attribute to the low levels or reading proficiency, which never top sixty percent, while in Rhode Island, it is above sixty-nine percent. Math scores are also ranked low in Central Falls; although a little over half of 4th graders are competent in math, only twenty-eight percent of the total amount of 8th graders are proficient in math. In comparison to Rhode Island's total fifty-four percent, this is clearly something that needs to be fixed. However, it could be because a quarter of all students are enrolled in special education and are perhaps not getting the education they need. Although eighty-eight percent of kids attend high school, more than thirty percent of those do not end up graduating.
NECAP (the Rhode Island state test) scores for the district are pitifully low across the board. In almost every grade, less than half of the students test proficient in math, reading, writing, and science. Only in fourth grade math, fourth grade reading, fifth grade reading, and eighth grade reading do more than half of students test proficient, and those figures are just barely above 50%. The trend reaches extreme lows of 04% in eighth grade and eleventh grade science, also dipping to 08% in eighth grade science. The highest percentage of proficiency is in fourth grade reading, which is at 58% proficient. Low scores are not a new change in Central Falls. Scores for the 2010-2011 school year were actually up from previous years. Blame for these low scores cannot be place on teachers, nor on the school, but rather on the system.
Motivation in Central Falls to academically succeed seems to decline as years go on. The attendance rates for Central Falls are on a negative curve. Schools in Central Falls had a ninety-four percent attendance rate in elementary and middle schools, which exceeds the state target. However, attendance decreased as the statistic reached high schools; as the attendance rate was only at eighty-eight percent. Only half of the high school students in Central Falls managed to graduate, which is twenty percent lower than the state's total. Thirty percent of students decide that school isn't even worth it, and they drop out. Double the amount of students drop out in Central Falls as compared to the state's total. 3.4 percent of students received their GED, which is right on par to the state's total. Violence in Central Falls also seems to be quite common and may be discouraging kids from returning to school; 783 of Rhode Island's total 24,491 high school incidents were from Central Falls.
Central Falls' Teachers
The Central Falls district as compared to the state of Rhode Island in teaching standards appears to be nearly on equal footing according to statistics collected in 2010-2011. Teachers with Emergency Certification are uncertified individuals who can be granted permission to teach in public schools when qualified candidates are unavailable. Central Falls and Rhode Island schools only employ a limited amount of these teachers; Central Falls having a mere 2% of the teaching staff with emergency certifications, only slightly larger than the state percentage of 1%. The amount of not high qualified teachers is also low. Rhode Island only employs 3% of teachers who fall under this category while Central Highs is again marginally higher at 6%. Not high qualified teachers are defined as those who do not meet the criteria determined by the state to be "highly qualified." This criteria includes: having a Bachelor's Degree, state certification, displaying competency in core academic subjects by having a major or passing a knowledge exam. The ratio of students to teachers is self-explainatory; state statistics indicate that there is an average of one teacher for every 11 students in the schools of Rhode Island. Central Falls is surprisingly slightly lower than the state average, estimating about 10 students per teacher in the school systems. This data collected in Central Falls may be indicative of the reform measures the state has enforced in the schools in the past couple years.Safety
Safety is also an issue in Central Falls. Unfortunately, out of every thousand children, twenty-three are either abused or neglected. It comes as no surprise that the domestic violence rate concerning children is at thirty-eight percent. Due to the influence of incarcerated parents (twenty kids out of every thousand have imprisoned parents) students who bring weapons and experience violence at school are high; though lower in comparison to the total of Rhode Island. Those who bring weapons to school make up eight percent of Central Falls' total, while in Rhode Island, thirteen percent of children bring weapons to school. The kids that perpetuate violence only amount to five percent of Central Falls' children, even if only thirteen kids get a juvenile arrest for assault; while the number of weapon related assault is almost half that. Of 2,600 kids, only three were detained, and twenty-three were adjudicated. Children may not only get this idea from their parents, but from being present in domestic violence -- of 143, fifty-four were present.Health Concerns
Healthiness in this area is also low compared to the total of Rhode Island. For example, children with high levels of lead in their blood amount to three percent of total children, while the state has a full percent lower. Kids are also more prone to asthma, as seven children out of every thousand are hospitalized for asthma, which is very high compared to the average of four. Perhaps because of this, the need to have children under nineteen receiving medical assistance is increased; as around 4,400 kids get medical assistance. Children are not the only ones that have to worry for their health. Infants, should they live, (as every eleven infants out of a thousand are pronounced dead) have a low birthweight -- over seven percent of infants have a low birthweight. Although it is low compared to Rhode Island's eight percent, it is also a curious statistic because women who received delayed prenatal care amount to almost twenty percent. Receiving late prenatal care could amount to the reason why there is such a high mortality rate, low birthweight percentage, and a low amount of mothers who exclusively breastfeed -- only forty-three percent of Central Falls' mothers do this. It seems high, but against Rhode Island's average of almost sixty percent, it seems drastically low. Perhaps the reason why mothers do not breastfeed is because a large amount of them are teen mothers -- almost a hundred out of every thousand girls give birth! 230 of these births turn out to be preterm as well.Conclusion
Central Falls as a whole is in a weak state, and the education system is at the heart of it all. Many factors affect the success of the system, including, but not limited to, economics, social expectations, overall healthiness, and safety. While many districts struggle with one or two of these factors, Central Falls struggles to deal with negatives in all of these areas. With so many things actively working against the school system, it is a wonder that it has done as well as it has. For the past few years, test scores have been rising, showing that improvements are being made. While the process is slow and agonizing, there is still hope for Central Falls and the many people who call this area home.